Actually, the section I was referring to as "burled" is a mottled reddish
brown - seeming to my eyes like a burled wood echoing the pattern of the
genuine wood surrounding the back of the auditorium...as I understand it
veneer assembled from one single tree. Check it out on your next visit and
you will see that it is indeed more than red paint slathered on in one
uniform color.
In terms of the proscenium sculpture, your guess is as good as mine...
On Mon, Aug 21, 2017 at 8:22 PM, donald kane <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> The change from white paint on the front of the tiers to red paint was
> made at least 25 years ago; it was a simple but dramatic improvement, and
> involved no
> "faux burled" anything. I don't know why so many people are bothered by
> what happens when golf leaf ages; it has to be expected with gold leaf
> ,just as the aging of bright copper outdoors is expected to age to a
> pleasant green which
> clueless renovators often decide to paint over.
>
> What the sculptural object above the proscenium ironically resembles, is a
> stack of twisted metal debris I photographed during the demolition of the
> old house; they could have trucked that very stack up to Lincoln center and
> hoisted it into
> place..
>
> dtmk
>
> On Mon, Aug 21, 2017 at 6:47 PM, Stephen Charitan <[log in to unmask]>
> wrote:
>
>> I agree, the new MET is a beautiful building both inside and outside.
>> Those
>> thin soaring arches on the exterior compliment the "flying" staircases
>> spiraling through the lobby to create an almost ephemeral visual harmony
>> to
>> match what you will hopefully hear when you are sitting in your seat. The
>> starburst chandeliers are the perfect accessory. At the risk of
>> trivializing them, this is also true of those magnificent Chagall's. One
>> major improvement to the auditorium made several years ago was to lose the
>> white around the various rings of the theatre and replace it with a faux
>> burled wood finish to match the real wood on the walls. This along with
>> the gold "half moons" on the underside warmed up the house to its
>> considerable advantage.
>>
>> I agree with Max about the proscenium thing...though I've come to accept -
>> if not quite love it. I always think of them as tails docked from some
>> Stegosaurus, Triceratops, or perhaps Godzilla himself.
>>
>> On Mon, Aug 21, 2017 at 4:27 PM, Max D. Winter <[log in to unmask]>
>> wrote:
>>
>> > I think the Met at Lincoln Center is a beautiful building, inside and
>> > out. The front of the
>> > building from the plaza, with the big Chagall murals and the starburst
>> > chandeliers backed by
>> > the red and gold of the lobby, is one of the most breathtaking sights in
>> > New York. I find the
>> > auditorium beautiful as well, apart from the abstract monster above the
>> > stage.
>> >
>> > And yes, the house is big. But the size was dictated by the economic
>> > needs and projections
>> > at the time the house was built. It is what it is. That the Met has
>> > trouble filling the house
>> > today is not the fault of the big house. When I was attending the Met
>> > regularly in 1974 -
>> > 1978, it was frequently sold out, or nearly so. But that was a result
>> of
>> > great casts that had
>> > star power and could sell tickets.
>> >
>> > MDW
>> >
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